domingo, 31 de maio de 2015

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – In a rematch of last season’s MLS Cup Final, the New England Revolution and LA Galaxy each scored twice in the first half but had to settle for a 2-2 draw at stormy Gillette Stadium on Sunday night.

Both teams entered the rain-soaked occasion with some key components missing, with LA depleted due to injuries and New England serving a couple of suspensions.

Poor weather conditions and missing players aside, both clubs played a highly entertaining first half.

The Revs came out firing immediately, with Scott Caldwell playing Charlie Davies through in the opening seconds, but the striker’s finish flew just high.

Five minutes later Caldwell again set up another solid Revolution opportunity. The midfielder took a nice swiveling pass from Juan Agudelo into the left side of the Galaxy penalty box before sending a searching low cross through the area to the far post, where Teal Bunbury slotted it home for the 1-0 lead.

Yet the Galaxy found their footing and created pressure of their own, which led to a nice 18th-minute strike from Ignacio Maganto to level.

Baggio Husidic pushed a bouncing pass to Maganto at the top of the box and the LA rookie blistered a right-footed half-volley past Bobby Shuttleworth for his first career MLS goal.

Nine minutes later it was Maganto sending one in from the left side to Jose Villarreal who, with his back to the net at the top of the box, made a terrific heel pass to lead a charging Gyasi Zardes into the box. Zardes fired a cool finish to the right to put the visitors ahead.

Just after the play, Villarreal was forced to the leave the game with a left shoulder injury that he suffered earlier in the game following a double-team tackle from London Woodberry andJermaine Jones.

Not long after it was Jones who would be removed, as he hit the soaked turf holding his stomach and had to make an early exit with what was ultimately declared a left groin injury.

Before the halftime whistle, the Revs would square things up off a gorgeous free kick. Diego Fagundez lifted a right-footed bender over the LA wall from about 19 yards out that nicked off the fingertips of Jaime Pinedo, but rippled the netting nonetheless.

The second half provided far less fare for the highlights reels, as both ends got bogged down as the rain continued to hammer down. Agudelo got home hopes high in stoppage time as he broke in alone on Penedo, but not before the offside flag went up.

Both teams next head west for Saturday night tilts, with the Galaxy hosting Vancouver Whitecaps FC while New England venture to Portland.

SEATTLE – It may have been Clint Dempsey or it may have been Chad Barrett – all that really matters is that the Seattle Sounders scored a stoppage-time winner to steal a 2-1 victory against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday afternoon at CenturyLink Field.

In the end, it was Barrett who was credited with the goal, a sneaky finish set up by Dempsey’s cutback of a Tyrone Mears cross that looked like it was primed for the back of the net before the second-half sub swooped in and finished the job.

Barrett’s goal completed the Sounders’ comeback from New York midfielder Lloyd Sam’s 36th minute opener, with Marco Pappa equalizing in the 69th before the late heroics gave Seattle all three points.

The Sounders had a great early look in the 12th minute after Pappa’s free kick found the head of rookie midfielder Cristian Roldan in the New York penalty box. But Roldan was denied his first career MLS goal by Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles, who made a fantastic diving save to deflect the shot away and keep the game scoreless.

New York snatched the first-half lead in the 36th minute after Sounders center back Brad Evans was whistled for a handball just outside his own penalty box, giving the Red Bulls a look at a free kick from prime position.

Bradley Wright-Phillips’ free kick then deflected off the Seattle wall and toward goal, allowing Sam to sneak in and head the ball past Seattle ‘keeper Stefan Frei to give the visitors the early 1-0 cushion.

The Red Bulls had a penalty shout waved off in the 54th, when Wright-Phillips got into the Seattle area before being tackled from behind by Evans.

New York very nearly made it 2-0 in the 61st after midfielder Mike Grella teed up a look from distance on a Red Bulls counter. But Frei came up with a big save of his own, laying out to his right and tipping the shot away to safety, keeping the Sounders within a single goal.

The save would prove to be a big one, as the Sounders would equalize just minutes later. Pappa collected an Obafemi Martins ball in the left side of the box, juking New York defender Chris Duvall before rifling a laser shot into the top right corner.

The game seemed destined to end in a draw as the contest hit stoppage time. But the Sounders would find their winner in the 91st, with Mears lifting a cross in from the right wing that Dempsey latched onto at the back post. The Designated Player hit the ball back across the face of goal, with Barrett tapping it home into an empty net from close range.

The goal was originally credited to Dempsey but changed to Barrett after review, giving the veteran forward his third goal of the season.

With the victory the Sounders vaulted back into first place in the Supporters’ Shield race with 26 points. The Red Bulls fell to 4-3-5 and now sit in third-place in the Eastern Conference with 17 points.